REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Hamdan Zoelva will end his five year term of office on January 6, 2015.

A replacement is needed but Hamdan Zulva could still keep the job if the president decided to extend his term for another five years.

However, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) decided not to follow the example given by his predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who simply gave an extension such as in the case of Justice Maria Farida Indrati.

Instead, Jokowi formed a Team of Selection Committee to help him in the process of selection.

The Team is chaired by constitutional law Professor Saldi Isra with members including Refly Harun, Haryono, Mulya Lubis, Satya Ariananto, Widodo and Maruarar Siahaan.

The controversy began with the decision of President Jokowi to form the Team of Selection Committee. It drew comments both pros and cons .

Hamdan Zulva, apparently was not happy with the decision that he should take part in the selection process, saying he would see first the mechanisms and process of election.

"I think it is not right for me to have to go through the process of fit and proper test by the Selection Committee," he waa quoted as saying.

Later he said he would not take part in the process of fit and proper test as he is still active as chief justice of the Constitutional Court.

He said he would leave it to the president and the Selection Team "to include me in the list of candidates or exclude me from it."

"It is not because I think I am too good and having high integrity, but it is just that I don't think I need more fit and proper test." he said.

"I would not have been here if I am not fit for the jobs. I could be judged by my performance and track record," he argued.

Constitutional law expert Andi Irmanputra Sidin said the president should himself name the candidate without going through selection by a team as the constitution gives him the exclusive right.

"The president should not form an ad-hoc body which reduces his power to name a Constitutional Court justice," Andi said.

He appreciated the decision of Hamdan Zulva in deciding not to take part in the fit and proper test saying it showed his statesmanship.

The Constitutional Court justices themselves filed their own protest. They sent a letter to the president protesting the inclusion of senior lawyers Todung Mulya Lubis and Refly Harun in the Team of Selection Committee .

"Todung and Refly are known to be advocates and law consultants active involved in handling cases at the Constitutional Court," Secretary General of Constitutional Court Janedjri Gaffar said.

The Association of Indonesian Advocates (Peradin) also protested the inclusion of Refly Harun and Todung Mulya Lubis in the team.

The impartiality of the two is doubted and they may choose candidates who would likely favor them in any cases they would handle at the Constitutional Court.

"The judges they would choose could not be independent in making decision on cases with Todung or Refly as the defending lawyers," Peradin chairman Otto Hasibuan said.

The Team, however, dismissed all the protests saying failure to take part in the process of selection was considered as an withdrawal.

The Team proceeded with the process and short listed the candidates into five without the name of Hamdan Zulva, who was set not take part in the interviews.

The five candidates are I Dewa Gede Palguna from the Udayana University , Imam Anshori Saleh, a commissioner of the Judivial Commission, Prof. Dr. Yuliandri from the Andalas University Dr. Aidul Fitriciada Azhari, from the Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta and Dr. Indra Perwira from the University of Padjadjaran, Bandung.

After medical examination, the five candidates would go through the second interviews on Dec 30 that would narrow down the list to lower number.

Saldo said the list would be handed over to the president on January 5 and the president is expected to name a new justice of the Constitutional Court on January 6 to be installed on January 7.

The process of selecting candidate was lauded by former chief justice of the Constitutional Court Mahfud MD saying "it deserves appreciation as it would better guarantee the quality."

Mahfud described the forming the selection team as a significant advancement in the process of recruiting justices.

Lawmaker Achmad Basarah of the Commission III of the House of Representative said the president formed the Team of Selection Committee to guarantee transparency in the process of selection.

The lawmaker from the PDI faction demanded the Constitutional Court to withdraw its letter of protest to the president.

A researcher from Indonesian Legal Rountable (ILR) Erwin Natosmal Oemar said the Constitutional Court justices had gone beyond their authority in filing such protest to the president.

The Constitutional Court Justice have no such authority and the protest was a form of threat to the president, Erwin said.

Refly Harun reacted easily to the protest saying the protest was groundless .

"One or two persons would not have significant impact on the whole results of the work of the team," he said .

The team chairman Saldi Isra said participation of Refly and Todung are needed as persons who know much about the Constitutional Court would be needed to select Constitutional Court Justice.

There were 16 hopefuls when registration was open for candidate from Dec. 11 to 17 2014 including four who were recommended such as Hamdan Zulva, who was recommended by the Setara Institute, Executive Director of Impartial , HRWG, and the Presidium of the Constitutional Democracy Forum.

Hamdan, however, said he would not take part in the fit and proper test as he already went through such process in 2010 by a selection team formed by former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

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